While the commercialisation of STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) studies is well-established, research within the non-STEM disciplines such as social sciences, humanities and the arts is often ignored in the context of commercialisation or knowledge exchange.
However, this has started to change, and now, the commercialisation of the ‘SHAPE’ subjects (Social Sciences, Humanities, and the Arts for People and the Economy) is increasingly starting to harness their collective power to ‘shape’ a brighter and more prosperous future.
Dr Sarah Macnaughton (right) – Principal Consultant at Oxentia Ltd, who has worked in management consultancy and knowledge exchange and commercialisation for more than 20 years – led the short case study on SHAPE commercialisation as part of the Train-the-Trainer workshop last week, of the Entrepreneurship Development in Higher Education (EDHE) programme that was funded by the British Council and facilitated by experts from Oxentia Ltd, Oxford University’s Innovation consultancy.
Dr Macnaughton introduced the webinar participants to the Aspect (A Social sciences Platform for Entrepreneurship, Commercialisation and Transformation) programme – founded in 2018 – and now including a growing network of 28 UK universities and organisations and two international members, working together to support socially responsible innovation, entrepreneurship and research commercialisation through SHAPE innovation